Apartado 195, Bata
Rio Muni, West Africa
Mrs. Lucy Bonnett
Prairie City, Illinois
Dear Mrs. Bonnett:
I have just returned (Dec. 9) from the final large gathering of Christians at Messama for this year. There are three centers at which these people worship regularly; three times a year they come together at the church at Messama for Bible Study, business meetings, and communion following the Sunday morning worship service. I was encouraged at the progress made on the church building. There have been over 2,000 cement blocks for the walls made by hand with a wooden mold in the last six months. This is very good. The elders asked me to haul some sand in the back of my little pickup while there, so that the block making could continue. Unfortunately, the pictures that I mentioned to you in June were lost en route to the processor for three months. I am expecting them to arrive any day now so that I can send you prints, trusting they turn out, of course.
This area near Messama is a fruitful field for our church's labors. The government suppressed the Protestant faith for quite a while. Until then there had been numerous little chapels. When most of them were burned or closed, many church members drifted away from their faith in fear of reprisal from the government. These days, things are opening up again and former church members are surprised to find that the church has continued in other areas and is calling them back into fellowship. This area is one of our two areas for concentrated evangelistic effort in the next few years.
With best wishes to you and the readers who are interested in news of the Messama chapel, I am Very sincerely yours, Roy P. Strange, Pastor.